Cosmic Strings
by Tsume Yuki
Summary: In which Eri is experimenting with her quirk, manages to irreversibly blasts herself to the past, and sorta picks up Todoroki Touya (Dabi) as a partner in crime (fighting).
1. Chapter 1

Eri swears, hitting the ground with a terrifyingly loud thump. Her whole body shakes, her limbs are trembling and, by god, Eri aches. Aches like she hasn't done since her time with Overhaul. Even though she knows the bastard is behind bars even though she knows there are stubs where hands had once lived... it still sends a shiver down her spine.

"Where the fuck did you come from?!" The words are hissed, low and even to Eri's left. She blinks, squints, then tilts her head to a side to peer at the source. It's a man... well, boy. Almost a man. Teenager, probably. Somewhere around her own age and with flesh that's almost melting off his bones. Well, that's sort of a stretch. It's clinging to his face by hooks, hoops, staples... whatever that glint of metal is. It's familiar somehow. The shade of that wild red hair even more so. She can't remember. She can't remember where she's seen that colour before, only the certainty she has once looked upon that shade stops her from outright dismissing it.

"Fucked up with my quirk," Eri explains, stretching out her back. It doesn't give a satisfying crack, not like Dad's back does when he gets up from the sofa and stretches like one of his many cats. God, Dad's gonna be furious when he realises she's been pushing her quirk's boundaries without him around. Maybe to the point that he'll call in reinforcements. Eri does not want another lecture from Izuku-nii and Mirio-nii. Not so soon after the first one. She needs to get back home. Pushing herself up and off the ground is harder than it should be; it's bloody exhausting. The heavy-weight of the stranger's eyes doesn't help.

"Tch, know what that's like," the stranger mutters, low and bitter. One hand lifts and Eri tenses, but he only rubs the pad of his thumb across the charred skin beneath his eye. It's horrendous to look at, it has Eri wincing in sympathy (it has flashbacks to needles, syringes, a hand descending on her head, leaping behind her eyelids).

"I'm, I'm Eri, but the way." she grunts out, pushing herself up onto her palms with a grimace. The blue-eyed teen watched her slowly clamber to her feet, expression dead.

"Touya."

"It's nice to meet you, Touya." Holding out her arm towards the stranger (and ignoring how it trembles, how her horn aches) Eri smiles. A warm hand (too warm, warmer than is normal) brushes up against hers, palm callous and fingertips burnt. The colour of his forearms, the purple tinge to the wrinkling skin is worrying. She's glad it doesn't stretch down the rest of his arm, glad his palms and fingers and left untouched. What good would hands that're nerve-dead be?

"Nice to meet you too, I guess."

.

He helps her out the alley. Eri would like to say it's heroic and a scene right out of a fairy-tale, but that'd be a lie. She stumbles three times before he gets up. Even then, it's only because she went down hard after the third, legs crumbling out from beneath her. She's never been this exhausted before, not since those dark days of her childhood. Back before Lemillion and Deku found her. Back before we had Dad.

"Where do you need to be?" The stranger, Touya, grunts, one of her arms slung over his shoulder. Eri takes a moment to asses her surrounds, but none of it is familiar. She's even struggling with the skyline. It doesn't make sense, half these buildings she doesn't recognise, but she'd been only 10 minutes away from U.A. and her quirk... her quirk is rewind. Breath lodged in her throat, Eri whips her head around to stare at Touya, eyes wide.

"What day is it?" she demands, snatching up the collar of the teen's thin jacket, exhaustion forgotten.

"It's Saturday."

"No! The exact date, the year included!" The look she gets is frosty yet Eri couldn't care less.

It's supposed to be a Thursday. It's supposed to be Thursday.

Touya tells her the date and, for the second time in her life, the ground is pulled out from under Eri's feet.

.

She's fifteen years in the past. Fifteen years. She should be there years old right now. Three years old. She's fifteen years in the past and eighteen years old. She should be preparing for her finals at U.A., not slouched over in an alley with Touya the melting-skin stranger for company. Her chest hurts. It aches. The horn both feels like a phantom limb and the most painful blister she's ever experienced.

(Deku won't have even met All Might yet.)

"What's wrong with you," Touya grunts, pinching her chin between forefinger and thumb, forcing her head to tilt up and out from her chest. The next breath comes easier so Eri doesn't fight him. A quick fumble and she finds the horn is nothing more than a stub now, her powers all but spent. Besides, her quirk is Rewind, not Fast-forwards. It isn't like she can use it to get back. A hysterical laugh threatens to bubble up and out of her lips but Eri beats it back. She can't afford to distance the only face she knows, even if that is only a stranger unwilling to give more than his first name.

"I can rewind time. I've never used it on myself this much and now I've gone too far." The laugh escapes from between her lips, slipping out right after the words. Touya's hand clamps down hard on her own, his other one still cradling her jawline.

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means I had a shitty life with an asshole that used me for my quirk before I got out. But now..." Gods, what about Dad? She's fifteen years in the past. Fifteen. That means Dad is still in his twenties. It means Dad isn't her dad anymore. The thought stings, burns and chars at the edges of her brain, forms a lump in her throat. Dad isn't her dad anymore. Dad, the man who raised her and loved her and taught her how to be human again (with a little help from Mirio-nii and Izuku-nii) won't know who she is. The startled sob that escapes Eri's lips deafeningly loud. She doesn't remember much more about what happens after that.

.

* * *

.

Todoroki Touya sets the girl down on the only bed within the crappy motel he's renting. She's a thin thing, even if she's all lithe muscle and long limbs. The swirling mess of long white hair slams him with memories but, when he focuses on the curls, he can distinguish the difference. Can tell the difference between the here and now, and the past that haunts him. The eyes were enough of a distinction, not the soft grey but a startling poppy red. But they're closed now and the only difference is that little stub of what could be a half-formed horn and the tumbling curls. Hunching over his drawn-up knees until his folded arms can cradle his head, Touya stares that little bit more at the girl, running their past, and only interaction, through his head. An asshole that used her for her quirk, huh?

Reclining back against the wall, Touya stares down at the exposed skin of his shins, the trousers that are too short for him riding up with his position. Even after all these years, the surgical staples remain a constant pain, foreign intrusions on his body that pull tight at nerve-dead skin. It fucking hurts, hurts each time he has to reapply them to ensure the muscle beneath doesn't get exposed. He goes through more antiseptic than he does toothpaste. Speaking of which... Touya reaches for the latest bottle (he's already running low, he'll have to budget for that soon enough) and uncorks it, applying an ample amount to the cleanest rag he's got to hand. Eri, the girl with a rewinding time quirk (the sheer power she may have at her fingertips is almost mind boggling) is covered in little scrapes and bruises gained from her sudden appearance in that alley. Hopefully, the sting might wake her up and he can get answers/get her out of his life now. Swiping the cloth across her cheek, Touya inspects the thick smear of blood that comes away from her face with a frown. She doesn't seem to register the bite of the antiseptic (though a hero in training would obviously have a fairly high pain tolerance) despite his hopes. Regardless, Touya moves on to her arms, taking a gentle hold of one and steadily peeling the bandages from where she wears them around her wrist. It's only after the third loop is freed from her forearm that he registers it's not bandages at all, but instead capture tape. Curious, but he still needs to tend to the scrape on her elbow, the wetness of her black top the only evidence of the wound. When he peels up the sleeve, however, all thoughts of that little injury vanishes. Her arms are littered with cuts. Cuts and needle-punctured and they're old. Old scars that've puckered the skin as she's grown.

'I had a shitty life with an asshole that used me for my quirk.' He knows it in his bones that the previously mentioned asshole is behind these scars. Just like his own arise from his own life-ruining-asshole. Scowling, Touya runs a hand through the wild spikes of his hair, inspecting the girl once more. She's got the muscle for hero work; he's not too sure about the outfit though. Capture tape around the forearms and a secondary supply she wears in an almost scarf-like formation. The outfit sort of tickles at the back of his mind but Touya pushes it away. He tries not to think too much when the topic of heroes come up. It's always an assured route to a black mood and that's the last thing he needs right now. The black skin-tight top and trousers are split apart by a white utility belt, loaded with all sorts of miniature gizmos and gadgets. He does not understand the significance of the 'M' with a horizontal bar across the top of it; there's two of them, residing on her hips in a muted orange. The red combat boots with dulled green laces are a sensible option, secure and supportive. They'd be a great aid for a solid kick. Not like the flimsy slippers Touya'd had to source for himself once his own feet had outgrown his boots. Life sucks but he's out from under that bastard's thumb, so it sucks a little less than it did before. His only regret is that he couldn't take the rest of them (couldn't take Shouto) with him. One faked death is far easier to believe than four. Besides, Shouto's the darling child. He won't be pushed to the point Touya was. That bastard has to learn from his mistakes like everyone else. Right?

Grimacing, Touya takes hold of the girl's arm and attends to the freshly exposed scrape on her elbow. When she wakes up he'll get more answers from her, send the girl on her way and he can go back to... piecing a life together for himself.

.

She wakes up three hours later. The sun has long since buried itself beneath the horizon, only a thin slit of moon offering any light to the night's sky. The city's light pollution ensures little to no stars are visible, stripping back an otherwise cosmic glory to expose a boring blackness. Touya sits beneath the window and it's grime covered panels, head tilted back to peer up at the stretch of nothingness.

As such, he's not looking at her when she mutters a low, "Mirio-nii?" A brother then?

"Not quite." Eri startles into alertness, leaping up and swinging around to stare at him. The horn on her head is no longer a little unformed stub; instead it now has a clear point to the tip. A tip that is currently glowing. Interesting. Blurry red eyes blink once, twice, thrice. Then, Eri melts into herself, shoulders slouching and lips drooping at the edges.

"It wasn't a bad dream then."

"'Fraid not. Any caregivers you can contact?" She sniffles, wiping the back of one forearm across her eyes. The capture tape comes away wet; she hasn't noticed that it's been rewound around her arms. Good, Touya had been unsure if he'd done it too tightly or too light.

"None I'd be willing to be anywhere near," Eri mutters beneath her breath, hand coming up to paw at the horn protruding from her skull. Touya watches the motion, watches how her fingers work around the adornment, nails catching on the tip. From the unfamiliarity of her motions, he can take a good guess that the horn is often changing in size. With how it'd glowed when she'd been startled, he's probably not wrong in guessing it's the source of her power. That, or somehow connected to it. "Dad- No, Aizawa-san won't even know who I am right now." An absentee father? Or adoption after she got out from under her previous 'caregivers'? Touya cannot say for certain, nor does he want to. Her circumstances are her own. So, what if it's cutting closer and closer to resembling his own? He doesn't care, not really. He's got his own shit to deal with and he's only helping her out now because she needs it. Because it'd be more than what that bastard would do. It'd be what a real hero would do, not the fake ones that march about out there, proclaiming their doing good while chasing fame and glory. There's only All Might that can claim himself beyond all the others. It's why he's been untouchable at the Number One spot for so long. His bastard of a father has no hope of getting that mantle. Touya's sure of it. He's just not good enough; sometimes, it's the only comfort he has to cling to.

"Well, that sucks for you. What are you gonna do now?" It's a not-so-subtle hint; he offers her no place to stay, offers her no help. But those big crimson eyes, wet with tears she stubbornly not allowing to fall, still turn on him anyway.

"Why are you on your own? You're not that much older than me."

"I'm twenty, short-ass." She's not short, perhaps even a little taller than the average woman. But she's shorter than him and that's all that matters. (He doesn't have flashbacks to a pair of white-haired siblings calling him the same thing. He doesn't.)

"That's only two years older than me," she huffs, arms folding and matched with a pertinacious pout.

"Newsflash, hero-girl. Not everybody makes something of their life. Sometimes the world screws you over and you can't climb out."

"I agree. Sometimes you get screwed over even if you don't deserve it." It's a soft whisper, passing through the air between them on a butterfly's wings. It still resonates between Touya's ears, not the words but the personal experience that weighs them down. "Sometimes you can't climb out of it alone." Tch, he knows exactly where she's going with this.

"Not everybody holds out a hand to help you up. Half the heroes in the world are utter fakes chasing fame and glory. The true ideals of a hero reside on one man's shoulders and he's only got one life to live. At the core, nobody really offers a hand nowadays." As he says it, Touya flinches back at the sudden movement, head colliding with the wall behind him. The surface groans, plaster snapping and cracking, some tumbling free to rumble down his back and land on the bare floorboards. Wincing, Touya peels his eyes open to find a hand open wide before his face. There's even needle-pricks on the ends of her pale fingers.

"A hero once told me the reason heroes wear capes is so they can take people who are in pain and cloak them in its comfort. He told me this the day he saved me from the bastard who destroyed my childhood. I don't have a cape, but I can go get one to wrap you up in, if needs be." Touya laughs. It's bitter and tinged with a decade's worth of fury, of acidulous anger that burns and bubbles far more than fire ever did.

"Is this you seriously stating you'll be the one to save me? Listen up, Short-ass. I don't need a hero." He'd had one hero taking charge of his life for the first decade and a half. It's not all it's cracked up to be. Not in the slightest.

"Heroes poke their noses in wherever there's a person that may need help," Eri snaps. She says it like one would a testimony for the bible, says like one would repeat a well-known life fact. The sky is blue, the grass is green, heroes are nosy buggers who cannot leave well enough alone.

"Newsflash, you're not a hero here. Hell, have you even been born yet?" At that she grimaces. One hand rubs at her arm and Touya almost feels a little bad. If she is alive then it's likely her younger self is suffering whatever and whoever the fuck put those scars on her body.

"Well, if you don't need it, I'll buy a cape anyway and go save my younger self. In fact-" she cuts herself up, having tried standing to quickly and too sharply. The girl stumbles again (it's all Touya's seen her do since they met), one arm shooting out to grab a hold of the windowsill. He ignores how close she is, ignores the further scars he can see on her neck, pale and blossoming across the jugular vein as if the ones on her arm weren't enough. The sick fuck. Who the fuck can do that to a child. (He does his best to ignore the memories of fists to the stomach, of bile edging his teeth, of icing bruises and hiding a hurting heart that just couldn't heal from being a 'failure'.)

"You'll get nowhere like that. Rest up before you go racing to the rescue." The words bolt from his mouth before he can stop them, running free like wild-horses. There's no point in closing the barn door now, they've already escaped so he might as well continue. "You'll be no good to yourself like that." Gesturing with one hand (and ignoring the pull of surgical staples against skin), Touya waves in her general direction. She's like a baby deer or something, all long limbs and trembling legs. The girl needs rest; she'll be no use to anyone before then, nevermind her younger self. Which is weird enough to think about. What would he do if given the chance to go back in time? It's disheartening to realise he'd try to put that bastard out of commission rather than save his younger self. Just another bit of proof that the life of heroics was never for him. As if he didn't already know that with the body-quirk incompatibility he suffers from.

"I thought you wanted rid of me," Eri muses, a smile to her face and it's not a happy one. Those red eyes are sharp, a bitterness to them he knows all too well.

"So, you got the hints then?"

"I ignored them. Heroics one-oh-one; don't be dissuaded by an unfriendly disposition." Yeah, his father certainly took that lesson to heart. Probably a bit too much. "Thank you."

"Tch, don't thank me. It's not like I can dump you outside now." Not when he'd already carried her in, sleeping soundly against his chest with the receptionist making the most ridiculous cooing noises over them. As if they were a couple to be commented on or some shit like that.

"Are you sure it's not you that needs the cape to wear?" Touya stiffens, glaring at the young woman that now settles herself back down on the only bed in the room. "Good Night, Touya-san. Thank you for bringing me here."

He hasn't got a clue what to make of the time-traveller, other than accept the fact heroes will still prevail in the future. That's a shame. If she's lucky, All Might would still have been around then. Along with whatever guy had rescued her as a child… Well, that makes up a grand total of two decent human beings. Both of whom wear capes. Well, he has his answer on why Endeavor has never worn a cape. He'd never care to comfort a person and protect them for pain, would he? No, he's all about solving the case, defeating the villain. It's why he'll forever be number two. Why he'll never take over All Might.

It doesn't surprise him in the slightest that All Might wears a cape. He could see the Number One saying those kinds of words. Heh. Typical that the only person he can respect as a hero would never notice Touya, would never be capable of helping him. That's okay though. If he can't climb out of his own hole, he can at least make himself at home within it.


	2. Chapter 2

"You're not really going to save your younger self, are you?" Straightening up, Eri tilts her head back and to a side, peering over her shoulder to lock eyes with Touya. In the morning light, his eyes are an even bright blue, searing against the pale flash of his skin and the dark purple of his scars. He doesn't look well, too thin in clothes both too baggy and too short for him. It makes her itch, makes her remember the long, thin rag of a dress they had forced her to wear in Chisaki's 'care'. She uses the word care lightly, darkly. It's about as far away as what she'd received, after all.

"Well, I'm hardly going to leave the other me there. Even if she wasn't suffering, what they'll make from her blood, from my blood…" She can maybe cut the head of the hydra off before it all gets started. She can save Mirio-nee those painful years of quirklessness. She owes him so very much, she has to at least try. The thought of facing Chisaki again is terrifying, it has her almost trembling. But she's a hero now (unlicensed or not, apprentice or not, intern or not, it doesn't matter). She will save her younger self, will stop the production of that drug. She has the power to do it. She can do it. Nothing will stop her. Chisaki… She can take his quirk away. She has that power, the ability to revert a person's body back to a time when quirks didn't exist. He won't hurt her younger self anymore, won't get the chance to hurt Mirio-nii, the chance to kill Sir Nighteye. Maybe in this timeline she can meet the man Mirio-nii regarded so highly. Shoulders rolling back, Eri pulls the last of her hair up into a high-ponytail, fishing her mask from the pocket of her trousers. It's a strange combination of Deku, Lemillion and Eraserhead's own headgear, all in black. Just like the rest of her outfit. Sure, there are the little bits of her outfit that are a nod to her two favourite heroes. But most it is clearly derived from her favourite person in the entire world. She doesn't think anyone could blame her. With the start she'd had to life, it isn't wrong to idolise the man who became her dad, is it?

"What do they make?" Laid out across the ratty-looking couch, Touya's form is that of a lazy lion upon his rock. No intention of moving, no intention of aiding her given that his own has not been threatened. She wonders if her information would change that. If he'd have the same horrified reaction as the other people she'd told. It was one thing for people to know she could rewind time; the ability to revert a person back to before they were fatally injured, that's a highly sought-after skill. Being able to revert a person back to pre-quirk times, however, scares the shit out of them. Even Yagi-san… she remembers the early days. But, given the only other person he knows of that can strip a person of their quirk, she can understand it.

"Chisaki makes a drug that can remove a person's quirk." Now that has an effect. Touya snaps to attention, head no longer lounging on the back of the couch but staring right at her, eyes wide with horror.

"What!" His voice, scratchy either from disuse or a result of the dark scarring that rings his neck, echoes through the room. Eri finishes with her hair, ensuring it is all tied securely back, that it won't come loose during her upcoming fight. Sure, long hair can often impede hero work. It's why Present Mic styles his up, it's why all the top heroes keep theirs short. Eri doesn't keep her own hair long for vanity's sake. No, her hair is long because Dad loved plaiting it. It strikes true, right against her heart; she'll never have that again. She's not his daughter anymore, he's not her dad anymore. He'll never plait her hair again, never weave it into those intricate styles she knows he spent hours studying. Her heart flops and Eri does her damn best not to whimper at the thought. It doesn't matter, not right now. Not when she has a chance to save Sir Nighteye, a chance to save Mirio-nii years of quirkless suffering. She can make a difference here. Movement from the corner of her eye has Eri looking over. By the door, Touya is worming his way into a worn looking black coat. It brushes up against his calves and is achingly familiar. She knows him, she's sure. But she cannot recall meeting someone with that shade of red hair in that particular style.

"What are you doing?"

"A drug that makes people quirkless… Like any idiot, I have a vested interest in making sure something like that doesn't fall into the wrong hands. Or gets created at all. The fuck is in your blood?" Straightening out the cuffs of his coat, Touya folds his arms across his chest, healthy skin pulling at the dead-looking half. The collar of his tee-shirt is too low; there's a reason Eri is often in long-sleeved shirts. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"My quirk's nothing to scoff at, Short-ass. I can handle myself." That she can believe. Shaking her head, Eri gives the contents of her belt a brief once over, praising her lucky stars she'd at least been in her hero gear when she pushed the limits of her quirk. She could have been worse of. She could have done this in her kitty pyjamas. "You know where you're heading?"

"Yes." How could she possibly forget? It'd been the place that defined her.

.

Walking the streets with Touya is strange. People avoid him, crossing the road once they lay eyes upon his scarred form. It's rude, Eri decides. She doubts Touya decided to get those scars, doubts it was his decision. They look painful and that's when they're all healed over and stapled to the rest of his skin. She hates to think how much pain he'd have been in upon receiving them (needles beneath her skin, Overhaul's hand descending upon her head, a promise to remake her, the darkness and the soul-searing pain). It makes Eri walk a little straighter, a little taller, a determined smile on her face. A part of her wants to loop one arm through Touya's, to make it clear that just because someone looks a little injured and rough, it doesn't mean they're broken. If it had… well, Mirio-nii and Izuku-nii would have left her, wouldn't they? She gets the feeling Touya won't appreciate that though, so Eri pushes down the urge and tucks her hands into her pockets anyways. Besides, she has to focus on the fact she's a hero (provisional license or not) who has no valid ID on her. Oh, she's got her provisional locked into a pocket of her belt all right, but she can't whip out ID from fifteen years in the future. Well, she could, but there'd be shit loads of trouble afterwards. Something she definitely wants to avoid until she'd dealt with Chisaki. There will be trouble either way; she's going to expose a Yakuza operation if she gets her way; that'll come with unfortunate consequences regardless of her license standing the test of time-travel or not. She wonders if Touya knows what he's getting into; he probably does. Hell, he undoubtedly won't appreciate a warning even if he didn't. Eri clamps her mouth shut, eying the older teen- no, he's not even a teen, is he? He's a man, twenty years old, two years her senior. What happened to produce such a jaded person? To create a man who doesn't believe in heroes? She cannot imagine losing faith in Eraserhead, in Deku and Lemillion. In All Might, even if he was before her time.

"So, what are we walking into?" Hands deep in his pockets, Touya determinedly avoids eye contact, staring ahead. He walks at a pace even with her own, long legs covering that little bit more ground than her own can manage so she has to walk ever so slightly quicker than him.

"Overhaul's quirk is just that, Overhaul. He can disassemble and reassemble whatever he wants, people included. Being put back together is… painful." It's more than painful, even now she cannot recall a worse pain, she who has broken bones and suffered burns in her quest to become a hero her dad can be proud of. Who he'll never get the chance to be proud of now, thanks to her fuck up.

"Sounds dangerous," Touya muses, chewing on the burnt half of her lips, teeth a flash of pearl white against the dark pigmentation of his skin. She wonders what Touya's quirk is, for him to remain so confident in the face of Overhaul. Then again, he doesn't know the villain like she does, doesn't have the years of experience and childhood trauma that Eri does. Gritting her teeth, Eri thrusts her balled hands into her pockets, ignoring how she now mirrors her scarred companion. She tries not to look at him, tries to focus on the task at hand as the streets become more and more familiar to her. She tried to flee down that alleyway once, she's sure of it. Maybe she'll try to flee down here again if she fails? Maybe that alleyway won't be standing any longer when she picks this fight. That's a discomforting thought though so Eri pushes it down, forces herself not to consider it too much. The last fight with Overhaul… she doesn't remember too much. But she remembers the aftermath. Not from being there herself but from looking it up in her spare time. From flicking through out of teenaged curiosity. She hadn't been able to sleep a wink for a week. If Deku hadn't been there, hadn't been who he is… she'd be dead. Dead or worse, back in Overhaul's clutches for the rest of her life. Bile rises in her throat at the thought of it. No, she'd rather die than end up back under his thumb again. She'll take him with her if need be.

"It is," Eri affirms, scanning the streets, looking for anyone or anything familiar. Some of it rings a bell but the more she looks at it… the more she doubts. Is this the street? Is this the right district? They'd caught a train over here, but it'd been years since Eri was last here in person. Fifteen to be exact. Etched into her memories as it is, she'd never once had any desire to set foot near this place, felt no need to revisit it. She had been safe with Dad, had a life with him and her two adopted big brothers. Mirio-nii and Izuku-nii had looked after her, had sheltered her and helped her grow into herself. She hadn't needed to revisit the site of her childhood trauma. Only, she's back now hoping to stop all of that for an alternate version of herself. It's time to put on her big girl pants and act the hero even if she doesn't feel like one.

"Eri. What have you done."

.

* * *

.

She freezes. Whoever that voice belongs to, it's someone who has a powerful hold over her, a hold that stops Eri in her tracks. Like prey sensing the predator. Slowly peeling his hands free from the confines of his pockets, Touya cocks his head to a side, peering through his bangs to find the source. It's a man, tall but not as tall as Touya himself. Hair cropped short, doctor's gloves stretched across his hands and a long, beak-like mask that has history books flashing before Touya's eyes.

"Your corpse has spent the last fourteen hours cooling on the table. And yet, here you are. Aged. No longer a child." The bastard tilts his head to a side, face blank. Touya takes a step forward, feeling the heat pool beneath his skin. The civilians are starting to stare, looking between the three of them with cautious eyes. Understandable. Touya's far from heroic looking and, despite her occupation, Eri's outfit doesn't exactly scream bright and colourful. This bastard though, the vibe he gives off is nothing short of creepy as fuck. It should be blatantly obvious who it is that's the bad guy here. They should clear off the streets, should read the air. But they're not and this is why the casualty rate is always so high.

"I'm not a child anymore, Overhaul. I won't let this continue." There's a tremor to Eri's voice now, undoubtedly still reeling over the 'cooling corpse' comment. There're probably consequences between travelling through time zones. It sounds about right but Touya's hardly bothered reading up on time-travel. He's no expert here, hadn't even thought it possible until yesterday. There are stranger quirks out there though.

"Oh? Come back, Eri, and your friend won't get hurt." For the briefest moment, she freezes again. Limbs lock up, her breath catches before doubling up at twice the speed to catch that missed inhale.

"I won't let you hurt him." This stalls her opposition, this 'Overhaul'. Clearly, he hadn't been expecting Eri to resist, to say no. His brows pucker, eyes narrow and a dissatisfied grimace paints his lips.

"We'll see about that." Then they move.

.

"Get out of here!" Touya roars, throwing a spray of flames at the civilians, high enough there'll be no casualties but bright enough, startling enough it'll force them into action. Into some state of terror where fight-or-flight takes over. Hopefully, it'll be flight; any fighters out there should be heroes and Touya's not too sure he wants any of those fuckers getting involved. Not unless it's All Might himself.

Eri goes low, hands sprawled wide and that horn of her glowing again. Overhaul goes low too, hands slamming against the pavement and it roars up, assembling and reassembling into gigantic spears that aren't just heading for Touya's temporary companion. The heat beneath his hands flare and bursts forth, blue flames licking through the stone and reducing it to ash. He's left untouched and a quick glance Eri's way showcases she's in the same state. Instead of fire consuming the attack, her hands are thrown out before her and everything seems to dissolve into small crumbs losing all momentum to land at her feet. Right, Rewind. Reducing something to its most basic state, to a previous state. To a state prior to quirks themselves. It hadn't quite clicked yesterday, but a quirk like that has the potential to be terrifying with the correct application. With that expression her face, he rather thinks Eri has the correct technique beneath her sleeve. The ground roars again, rocketing forwards and Touya grunts, jumping up and powering himself on with a burst of flame that's uncomfortably alike to Endeavor. Life of death situations dictate he uses what he knows, what's practiced. If his flames keep him alive through this, fighting against Eri's own 'Endeavor', then so be it. He throws a blast of fire at the bastard, cutting off his attack and forcing him to dodge. He can disassemble fire. Good to know.

Eri's on the move again, no longer having to reduce an attack back to its basic form to save the few idiotic civilians who have yet to flee. The capture tape on her left arm unravels in one smooth swipe of the limb and she leaps up, twisting with the fibre shooting forwards. It catches at Overhaul's wrist, forcibly pulling the arm away from where he'd been aiming for the pavement again. Touya fires offs another blast, cradling the flames in the palm of his hand before he has them rocketing forwards. Overhaul snarls, his other hand forced to life more ground (for there is little pavement left at all) to banish as protection against Touya's flames. His fire eats through it, if somewhat sluggishly.

"I think you know what I will do, Overhaul," Eri growls, allowing the secondary blast of earth to send her careering back. She loses her grip on the capture-tape and it disintegrates a second later in Overhaul's grasp. The man shoots forwards again, chasing Eri with a crazed gleam in his eye. (Blue eyes half-hidden behind fire, furious over a perfect quirk but an imperfect body, near crazed with the reality of the situation.) He's got the general gist of the situation; do not let the psychopath touch him. His quirk needs contact to work, but the second it does, it's all over. He'll be disassembled. Well, it's a damn lucky thing that Touya's a long-ranged fighter. Hell, even if he got hit, then would he really be dead if Eri got to him in time and Rewound things? Not exactly something he's eager to test right now.

"I'm gonna take your quirk away," Eri spits, back flipping to avoid the man's reaching hand, her red eyes wide as her own palms spread wide. The roar of stone stops and crumbles back down, the momentum gone. Throwing more flames from his left hand towards the fucker, Touya kicks off from the wall, twisting to get a better angle at his shot. Two more power shots have Overhaul on the run, backing up enough to fire up more earth towards him. Touya burns through it then hisses in pain as the spear of metal that'd been hiding behind the earth spears through his shoulder. Fucking hell, he's impaled. He's impaled but if he stops, he won't be impaled he'll be dead.

"Touya!" Eri's there, her hand on the metal and it crumbles, retreating and reforming into the streetlight it'd once been. People are still screaming, sirens are going off and Eri's hands are on him until his shoulder no longer hurts. He gasps, one hand going up to press against the wound that's no longer there, the wound she's reverted.

"Eri!" Grabbing hold of the girl's wrist, Touya fires off another blast of flames, hotter than he'd wanted. It stops Overhaul from advancing but his skin is smoking with the force, his palm blistering because his body cannot handle his quirk. His body is useless and is already failing him.

"I need to get close. I don't even need to touch him to take it away," she breathes, rising to her feet with a rattle to each exhale. A powerful quirk… What's her kickback? The horn on her head glows slow and bright. Against this fucker, he doesn't want to find out what her setback is.

"In close, got it." They need to finish this before whatever minions Overhaul has come crawling out of the woodwork. They need to finish this before heroes (one hero in particular) come running and try to stick their noses in. Eri knows what she's doing and Touya can work around that for the moment. He can't do that if anyone else turns up and wants to get in close and personal with this guy. He might end up roasting them by accident.

Of course, that's the exact moment someone drops in from the sky.


	3. Chapter 3

"Something big has kicked off-"

"north of Minato-"

"Do not worry! I will handle it!"

.

* * *

.

Eri stares. She's seen him before, of course. But never like this. He looks just like the videos that Izuku-nii can recite it word for word, moment by moment. Eri has never seen him like this before. Never. Yet, here before her is All Might in his prime. Her whole being shakes with the thought. All Might in his prime, All Might who still has access to One for All. All Might… who has yet to meet Izuku. This is... this is the All Might featured in legends. Even Overhaul has frozen at the sight of him and Eri.. Eri hasn't felt this safe since Lemillion first wrapped her within the comforts of his cloak.

"Fear not, because I am here!" The voice booms, rolls like wind and cracks like thunder. Eri... Eri suddenly understands what Izuku-nii spoke of, understands the power a single phrase could have. Those last three words, it's as if that familiar red cloak is resting upon her battered shoulders all over again. Only, she cannot leave this to All Might. Overhaul is her villain, her nightmare. It's only right she beats him back herself.

"It's a touch-based quirk and he can disassemble or reassemble anything he touches," Touya snaps out before she can even think about how to start such a sentence. He's right beside her, hair blown back from his face and scowl drawing his lips wide. There's still blood pooling across his once white shirt, the only evidence of the spear that'd impaled him. Eri's stomach flips at the memory. She'd promised Overhaul wouldn't hurt him and he'd still managed it. She still hadn't been strong enough. It would not happen again. She'll die before she lets him harm one more person.

"I need to get close, then I can stop him," Eri promises, staring at All Might and trying to convey to the Number One Hero, the greatest one of all time, how sure of herself she is. She can do this. She helped stop him before, back when she was nothing more than a scared little girl with no handle on her powers. Now she's a woman, a hero who has put in countless hours to train her quirk and body into a villain defeating, heroic machine. She can do this. Bright blue eyes, the whites hidden by the heavy shadow his eyebrows cast upon them, lock onto her form.

"This is hero work-"

"And I've a provisional!" Eri snaps back, whipping out the plastic license to shove under All Night's face before she cans top herself. The legend goes near cross-eyed trying to read it and Eri hastily shoves it back where it came from. Just in time, for blue flames roar down the street and intercept Overhaul's attack, Touya standing before the two of them with smoke cooling up from his arms. He's lost the jacket now, exposing arms littered with fresh burns near the wrists; it makes her want to cry. How can someone with a fire quirk burn? She doesn't understand.

"Right. Let us stop this villain!" And there's a burst of power, air displaced as All Might smashes forwards and cuts through Overhaul's attack as if it were nothing more than a paper screen. The harsh line of Touya's shoulders relaxes; Eri can feel her own muscles loosen slightly. Funnily enough, having All Might stand before you is a ridiculously large confidence boost.

.

From there, it is easy. Almost laughably so. It's a bitter pill to swallow, all those years she suffered under Overhaul's hand, and all it takes is three minutes of All Might's time to put him down. Touya takes the long range, cremating anything of Overhaul's that leaves what they have silently agreed is the battle zone. There's more ash in the air than Eri has ever seen before; it's a little frightening to consider just how powerful Touya's quirk is (a fire quirk, a powerful one, why does that itch at her brain, why does it scratch and claw?). All Might and Eri... well, predominantly All Might handles the close quarter fighting, mainly because the Number One Hero can hit with a localised air blast unlike Eri who has to deliver a physical punch and actually lay her fingers on Overhaul.

So yes, it leaves bile at the back of her throat, the realisation she suffered so much because no one had known to come and rescue her. To let All Might know she needed rescuing. But that's why Eri will become such a good hero. So that all the other Eris out there can find their Aizawas. So those little girls can have their Lemillion hero and find their dads, be it a bond forged from blood or a trial by fire. Perhaps the only thing that matters is that Eri gets to deliver the finishing blow. She gets close; she stretches a hand; she strips Overhaul of the thing that makes him so powerful. His quirk.

He goes down. Hard. Hits the ground and even as his fingers claw at the upturned earth, nothing happens. He's reverted to a state where quirks didn't exist, where his quirk doesn't exist. Eri... Eri doesn't feel victorious. She doesn't feel sick. She just feels... some sort of empty. Shock, maybe. but Overhaul is down and, for the moment, that is all she cares about.

"Who is this villain?" All Might approaches their shared enemy cautiously, the gentle sway of his white cape an aching reminder of Mirio-nii. She wonders how much time All Might has on the clock, how long he can hold this form before being forced to revert into the skeletal body she is so familiar with.

(There's a traitorous thought that links the effects of her quirk and the state of All Night's injured form and wonders 'what if?')

"His name is Chisaki Kai, known by Overhaul. He's the Yakuza Captain of Shie Hassaikai. I can give you a full victim's report, if you'd like." Now it's all over, Eri's limbs are trembling. She's dealt with villains before, emerged triumphant and made arrests under Lemillion and Deku's careful guidance. But none of them had been like this. None had been as big and terrifying as Overhaul, even if one were to discount Eri's own investment in the case.

"That," All Might declares, one large hand clamping down on the slender shoulder of (the previously escaping) Touya, "would probably be for the best."

The look Touya sends her is scorching, more so than any flame he has thrown today. His words on heroes last night, the pessimistic attitude... it all bubbles back to the surface, each a pop of concentrated guilt. Shit, she hadn't meant to get her temporary companion so involved. He hadn't been lying though; Touya's quirk was exceptionally powerful, the only others she can think of that'd had such a quirk were Endeavor, Shouto and...

Eri swings back around to stare at Touya, her eyes tracing the surgical staples in his skin, the way his wild hair sits in a vibrant red that's now smothered in ash, dampened to a deeply unsettling blood red. Nearer to black than crimson. Nearer to the hair the villain Dabi had once sported. It's no wonder she hadn't recognised him; Dabi had been at large when she was a child, more Izuku-nii's problem than hers, especially given his ties with the League of Villains. She's not sure what happened to him, only that the villain had no longer been at large when she first got her provisional. And here she is, having just taken down Overhaul with him.

Holy fuck.

.

* * *

.

Touya will actually kill her. The last place, the absolute last place he has ever wanted to end up, is the police station. Because the station means detectives and detectives look into backgrounds. That kind of attention would mean certain people uncovering the fact he is still very much alive.

He's managed five years since his 'death'. He has no intention of ever returning. He'll burn the entire city to the ground before he goes willingly. However, there's burning a city to the ground, and then there's getting away from All Might. One is significantly more likely to happen than the other.

She's still staring at him.

Touya tilts his head, returning the stare tenfold but still, Eri doesn't give up. Those bright red eyes are still round, lips parted and her expression implies an epiphany of divine proportions. He hasn't the slightest clue what it could be.

Slouching down into the worn leather of the police cruiser's back seat, Touya does his best to ignore how the seatbelt eats into the tender flesh of his shoulder, how the fresh blisters on his palms ache. The detective who's giving them (All Might and his 'sidekicks' more like) a ride has offered burn gel but Touya had turned him down. He's regretting it now, but what's done is done. It's not like he could have wiggled his way out from under All Might's hand. Even Touya, with his disdain of all things hero-related, cannot look upon All Might with any form of scorn. It's just not something that can be done, not unless you're Endeavor, that is. And Touya is trying very, very hard not to be Endeavor.

"Can we slow down? I get car sick easily," it's not even a lie, no matter how drily he drawls put that complaint. His head is spinning, he's overused his quirk (not a surprise, given he hasn't used it that strenuously in a few years), and the motion of the car is upsetting his stomach something fierce. That sluggish sensation is already rolling through his veins, he'll need to rest and get some food soon. Hydrate himself too, fire never fails to leave him thirsty. Rollin his shoulders back, Touya drops his head back against the cushion as the detective shows mercy and slows. The outside world is still moving by a little too fast, but it's more bearable now.

"Touya?"

"Yeah, Short-stack?" She's not short and, so far, it's been funny to watch her nose crinkle as the war of 'is it worth it' wages again and again in her mind. This time, Eri doesn't rise to the bait, doesn't even frown. Well, not at him. She is frowning, but her eyes have turned back to the occupant of the passenger seat, as if she dare not speak of whatever it is that's fizzling away under the mass of white hair. "Oi." Jabbing Eri in the arm has her full out flinching and there's a moment (minuscule as it is) where he feels bad for it. The moment passes and, just like that, he's back on his soapbox. "Don't address a person if you're not going to follow through."

"Sorry. Just, your quirk is familiar. And... I might have healed more than the stab wound." More than the-

Touya rips his sleeve up, hissing in surprise at the pale skin that's revealed beneath. No burns, no peeling, dying skin held on by staples. Now, the thin metal just glints where they're embedded in his skin. He could pry them out and he'd look... he'd look just as he did the last time his siblings saw him. With the addition of a few earrings and the nose piercing.

"What did you do."

"I... I'm sorry if that was a look you hd by choice, but I panic-heal. Most people are just pleased they're not choking on their blood when I'm done." Imploring red eyes peer up at him, that horn back to nothing more than a small bump on her forehead. No wonder that Overhaul bastard was keeping her locked up; the ability to rewind time, the ability to 'heal' any wound, the ability to permanently shut off a person's quirk… she'd make a fantastic villain. She will make a fantastic hero. If they both don't get thrown into prison for illegal quirk usage. Maybe it'll just be him thrown in, given Eri has a license (admittedly fifteen years out dated). Maybe she'll disappear to some government facility, never to see the light of day again. Maybe they'll contact the asshole he's forced to call father and it'll be him that walks 'free'. Touya would rather set himself on fire then let that happen. Never again. He's never going back.

"We're here, young... people." All Might stumbles a little over his address, face still smeared with that wide grin, an expression so far from the last hero that Touya had been this close to; he instantly relaxes. After all, this situation could already be so much worse. Maybe, if he plays his cards right, he'll not only get out of here without an incident, but Eri-free too.

"Right, here we are. At the police station. Because we were having a villain fight…" Eri trails off, scraping her lower lip back and forth between her teeth. There's a scrap across her left cheekbone, blood long since having finished up seeping free from the shallow cut. A bruise is blossoming from beneath it, tracing the contour her cheekbone forms.

"Yes! While we have nothing on this man other than illegal quirk usage, I am sure our officers will be capable of uncovering more of the truth."

"I'm willing to give a full victim statement. Overhaul spent the first four years of my life abusing me." Abusing me. It echoes in Touya's head, rings back and forth with all the weight of a crashing tsunami, all the roaring thunder of an erupting volcano. Abuse. That's what Eri's suffered from. He'll never breathe a word of it himself, but that's what he's suffered too. Abuse. He's at the police station but what the fuck can they do against a hero, what could they ever do against Endeavor? Nothing, that's what. The only man that would have the strength and the courage… Touya's eyes slide over to gaze upon All Might's broad shoulders. The only man that has the power would never believe him over a hero he's worked with for years.

"I see…" All Might's voice, for the first time Touya can ever recall, is subdued. He looks upon Eri with sad eyes, that famed smile absent. Hell, at least one of them is going to see their abuser brought to justice. He can at least stick around for a statement to see that happen. It'll be no trouble with All Might distracting everyone. As long as the Number One Hero remains, then he doubts anyone will really bother to ask Touya any probing questions.

.

All Might leaves. They're in this not-cell (interrogation room) for ten minutes and during that time, a detective with a truth quirk arrives, followed by a skeleton of a man. Touya's companion doesn't react to the sight, so Touya does his best to follow suit. It's not the strangest appearance out there, but it does make him… cringe? Yeah, he makes him cringe a little to see someone so clearly unwell. It looks like it hurts to breathe, and Touya knows all about that (all about smoke in his lungs, of his lungs wheezing and ribs expanding and contracting but drawing no oxygen as his vision swims). Then… Then Eri reels off the reality of her childhood. The reality of her torture. Because it cannot be anything other than that. Touya at least had his mother for the first decade. This… This is horrific. Truth detective looks sick, skeleton man continues to look sad and Touya does his best to not look at his temporary companion. If he looks... he's not sure what face he'll make. Only that if someone where to look at him like it, Touya would want to kick their ass. Eri doesn't seem s touchy over things as he is, but he point still stands. Instead, he slouches down further into his chair, arm (unburnt, unscarred) folded across his chest as he listens. He hadn't really planned on sticking around, had wanted to throw her out on her ass this morning. But he's glad he was involved in this, glad he was there to take this Overhaul fucker down. It feels like (and probably is) the only heroic thing he's ever done. Touya'll settle for that though.

"Eri-san, your provisional is invalid, the date has been printed incorrectly." Shit.

"No, it hasn't. My quirk is called Rewind. I pushed too far and the next thing I knew, I was face down in an alley next to Touya here." So much for discretion. Then again, Touya thinks with a near hysteria bubbling in his guts, Eri hadn't said anything about keeping her past quiet. Implied it here and there, yes. Still, he hadn't expected her to just whip it out like that. Detective truth flounders, skeleton man stares, wincing all of a sudden. Touya whips his head around to stare at Eri in time to see her lips relaxing. Clearly she'd just mouthed something to the man, but what, Touya doesn't have the slightest idea. Something that clearly hit home on skeletal man, given the way he's blatantly staring at Eri. Detective truth is looking to the other man for cues; something is wrong here. The detective should be in charge, he shouldn't be looking to the thin stranger to lead, not when the man hadn't been introduced as a member of the police team. A secretary of All Might he may be, but that doesn't mean he should be taking the lead here, should he? Touya's lips thin, his eyes locking onto the man as e traces every shape and curve of his face. No, he's never seen him before. He'd have remembered someone with features so sharp, bones so prominent. He's missing something, something Eri has as a result of her future knowledge. Something she might even be using as leverage against the two (though what on earth that could be, he doesn't know). If it gets them both out of here without getting them arrested (if it gets him out of here with Endeavor none the wiser) then he'll take it.

"Well, I believe that'll be enough to keep this villain Overhaul behind bars for a long time," skeletal man mutters, running one bony hand down the side of his face. "I'll return to the offices with these two."

"Pardon Yagi-san?" No, this is good. This 'Yagi' is offering to take them out of the police station, no further questions asked. He's home free!

Then... then the skeleton Yagi continues.

"Given Miss Eri's unique circumstances and young Touya's involvement, and taking their quirks into account, I think the safest role for them to take would be All Might's newest sidekicks!"

From Eri's startled hiccup, Touya rather thinks this isn't what she was expecting either. He uncurls his hands from the table, melted gashes left in the edge.


	4. Chapter 4

Shit, shit, shit. This, this is not what she'd been aiming for. The car ride to All Might's office in Minato is steeped in a dark silence. She can all but feel Touya's (Dabi's) gaze burning holes in her head. Of course, the man who would one day become Dabi, a powerhouse in the League of Villains, would not be impressed with getting carted to All Might HQ. He'd be even less impressed by being shoved into the role of sidekick to the number one hero. Sidekick... how the hell had All Might thought that a good next step?

Shuffling nervously in her seat, Eri edges a little more to the left, eyes locked on the thin slope of All Might's shoulders. Perhaps mouthing that she knew he was All Might had been a bad idea after all. Only, if there's someone with the power and goodwill to help her here in the past, it's him. Doesn't mean she's not still in a state of shock though. Thinking about it, being All Might's sidekick would give her a lot of leeway. No one knows All Might's civilian identity and, during their tenure under his leadership, no one had known his sidekicks' identities either. Telling All Might she's from the future is one thing, letting it get out to his enemy, letting it get out to the League of Villains, is another thing altogether. Speaking of the League... Eri side eyes Touya, tracing the contours of his face. Without that burned skin, with just the surgical staples remaining (which should really come out soon, they look strange now instead of purposeful)... well, he's got an attractive face. Not quite up there with Izuku-nii and Mirio-nii, but nice enough. Then again, Eri's well aware her own perceptions of attractiveness are warped, so who is she to judge? Most people might find him ugly, or just strange to look at. She can't get over the shock of crimson hair, even if it's currently stained with ash right now.

"We're here, young Eri and Touya," All Might trails off, head tilting to a side slightly as he glances at Touya in the rear-view mirror. He keeps staring. Squints a little. As if trying to link up the name to a face. From the tightening of his jawline, Touya realises it as well, knuckles draining white as he clenches his hands.

"Dabi. It's Dabi now." Yeah, there's no doubt about that. Swallowing around the sudden lump in her throat, Eri unclips her belt as All Might puts the car in park, adjusting the capture tape that's still wrapped around her forearms. She'd noticed in battle it hadn't been wound around counter-clockwise like usual; how strange that Dabi (Touya?) had looked for wounds. How strange he'd bothered to help her at all.

"We'll have to get you fitted for a costume-"

"Costume?! I never agreed to being a sidekick!" Touya roars, startling Eri right out of her seat. She's not the only one; All Might jumps in shock too, smacking the crown of his head atop the car roof, provoking a quiet curse to escape from his lips on a low breath. "I was doing fine! I didn't want to get tangled up in hero shit!" Slamming his hand down on the door, Touya (it's Touya, it's got to be because the stories she's heard insist Dabi was never this open, never this… hot tempered and bubbling with uncalculated fury) shoots up from his seat. Or, he would have done, had his seatbelt not still been buckled up. He curses, caught against the leather of the seat and the nylon seatbelt. Eri watches with wide eyes as he jabs two fingers against the belt buckle, ripping the restriction from his chest. All the fight seems to leave him at that point; he doesn't kick the door open and disappear like smoke. Instead, he simmers down, a fire low on fuel. His collarbones are sharp against the pale gradient of his skin, wrists thin. Has he been eating enough?

"You are correct, young Dabi," All Might agrees slowly, running a hand through the lacklustre bangs that frame his sharp face. "I figured, given your association with Eri and her circumstances, it would be in your best interests to also find comfort beneath the protective shield links with All Might can create. His previous sidekicks have never been known by their own identities. Not until they left him, that was."

"T-Dabi, please," Eri whispers, leaning over the empty seat between them so she can get her big puppy-eyes right up in his face. It never fails with Mirio-nii and Izuku-nii, so… Touya stares at her, a clear look of disgruntlement passing over his face. All Might is silent, allowing Eri to attempt working her magic. Eternity passes between them, Touya refusing to look away, Eri refusing to back down. Pride warring against pride.

"Urgh, fine. Just until your settled."

"Well, that is a good thing, because otherwise you'd have to be charged for illegal quirk usage… But what on earth was that?" All Might whispers, looking horrendously confused. Leaning back in her seat, Eri stretches her arms above her head as much as she can in the restrictive setting of the car.

"Puppy eyes. Effective against 90% of the population when used correctly." Touya's snort only seems to emphasise her point.

.

All Might's hero offices are a thing of beauty. Homely like Izuku-nii's, but with an old-worldly charm Deku's offices didn't quite manage to replicate. Hands buried in her pockets, Eri follows after the greatest hero the world had ever known, Touya sulkily shadowing their movements. The lone secretary, an overfatigued looking man with clipped tight blue hair, stares at them as they walk past, even more so when All Might makes some form of coded hand signal. Eri has no idea what message has just been passed between the two, but it's enough to get the man set on some kind of typing mission as they pass by. Eri eyes him warily as they make for the elevator but he soon disappears between the closing metal doors. The silence has returned now, capturing them in its choking hold. It's uncomfortable as hell and she's not the only one who feels that way; All Might shuffles from foot to foot, his gaze drifting to Touya once, twice, thrice. Still trying to figure out where he recognises him from. Which is… ridiculous? Because Eri's damn sure Dabi wasn't well known before his League of Villains work. Yet, All Might still keeps glancing at him from the corner of his eye. Then again, it might be the unnecessary staples that are the cause.

All Might lays the circumstances out for them the second they're comfortably situated in his office. Getting thrust into the role of sidekick without going through a hero course is entirely possibly, but rarely done. There are set hoops to be jumped through, unless your name is All Might who can just barge through the whole obstacle course on a wave of popularity and presence. There are forms to fill in (hero declaration forms along with ones for their false identities, All Might explains with a bashful cough of experience), and the requests to support departments to be made. This is 'round about the time that Touya (Dabi) makes himself known again.

"I want black hair dye."

"Pardon, my boy?" Touya levels a glare in All Might's direction, his lips pressed in a flat line. Without that scarring, it no longer looks like a demented Glasgow grin. Instead, it's a stern little frown that rather suits the severity of his face.

"My hair. I want it dyed. Black." One hand makes it way up to his head, fingers toying with one red strand that hangs not too far from between his eyes. Eri watches him, watches Touya play with the section of hair between his fingers with something like hate in his eyes. "If I'm doing this, I'm not doing it looking like this. Short-stack already fixed my first problem."

"Your first problem?" parroting the last two words, All Might haplessly turns towards her for answers; that little voice from early starts screaming in her head. What right does she have to not heal All Might, to not bring him back to his prime? Especially when given the threat that still dogs his footsteps.

"Scarring. She healed it." Jabbing a finger towards her, Touya apparently decides he's had enough, rising to his feet and stalking over to the floor-to-ceiling windows. He peers out across the stretch of Minato, hand shoved deep into the pockets of trousers that have too short hems, the pale skin of his ankles exposed. He's tall. Tall but slim. Slimmer than she thinks someone of his build should be.

"Speaking of healing old wounds," Eri starts, peeling the bobble from her hair. The platinum strands drop, curtaining her face and weaving across her shoulders and back. "I can fix you up too, if you want."

.

* * *

.

Watching Eri and the skeletal Yagi through their reflections in the glass, Touya folds his arms across his chest and does his best to drown out their words. A sidekick. He's a sidekick now, if only to avoid being slapped with an 'illegal quirk usage' and whatever punishment comes with that. Probably jail time. Or something that would require him paying a fine with money he does not have. Which might force them to work him over (legally of course, probably with some form of quirk usage) in order to figure out someone who could pay for him. Which means they would find out about his father. Which means his father would find out about him. That is the absolute last thing he wants. So, hair dye it is, hiding in plain sight, in the curtails of All Might's shadow. And if he takes the smallest amount of pleasure in the outrage his father would no doubt exhibit upon realising just who he was playing sidekick to... well, Touya doesn't let the expression touch his face. Not yet, anyway. Maybe when he's alone as he's had time to digest the last three hours of his life. Hell, twenty-four hours ago, things were so magnificently simple. There was no time-travelling girl, no potential arrest warren for illegal quirk usage, no All Might and cronies saving his (no longer crispy) bacon by slapping a sidekick label on him. There was no hassle. None at all. Sure, it hadn't been much of a life. But it had been his. His own life that he'd built for himself with no help from the fucker he's got no option but to acknowledge as his father. It'd been his.

What says that this isn't his either, though?

The thought comes in an almost feminine tone and Touya hastily frowns it out, beats it back and locks it away. The bastard had made sure he didn't have a mother to rely on, he's not going to listen to her imagined voice now, not when her memory is tainted by him. Shoving the thought aside, Touya runs a hand through his hair, ignoring the ruffled red that reflects on the glass. It'll be black soon enough. He's been toying with dyeing it for a while now, this has just been the final push he needed to take that step forwards.

"Then there is no rush, young Eri!" Twisting back around to look at the two he finds himself in the company of, Touya hooks his thumbs into the loops of his trousers, lips thinning as he frowns. There's something familiar about the skeletal man, the voice is just… does All Might have a brother that he employs? It'd make sense, it'd be a good reason as to why Touya's never heard of him either. Someone so weak, so clearly ill, it's no wonder All Might doesn't confess their relation. He's no idiot, actually cares for people. What does that say about Endeavor, who has taken to flaunting Shouto whenever he gets the opportunity? Nothing good, that's for sure. It doesn't surprise Touya in the slightest.

"If you're sure," Eri, the girl who has complete torn his calm, hero-free life apart, rubs sheepishly at the back of her neck. It's not a gesture he'd have expected of her; wearing all black, thick curtains of hair framing her face, the lazy slope of her shoulders… it just doesn't go with her aesthetic. Something copied from a family member? A friend? Not that she'll have those now, what with the time-travelling.

In that moment, the horrifying realisation that he is the person Eri's known the longest hits Touya and he grimaces. It's no wonder he's been dragged along for the ride in that case. It's been less than twenty-four hours and he was practically right by her side from the start in this time. He's ended up a constant. That's… irritating. How does he shake that label? Hell, perhaps the right question is can he shake that label now that he's been tagged as All Might's new sidekick?

"Take the elevator to the seventh floor! Pick out a room each and complete a support request form!" Yagi the skeleton holds out a stack (a relatively small stack, Touya will allow) to Eri and grins. Touya determinedly ignores the blood that's crusting at the corner of the man's mouth.

"Right. Thank you, Yagi-san." Eri takes the papers, retreating from the desk but not towards the door. Instead, she ends up in the middle of the room, red eyes lingering on him, a silent request.

 _'Are you coming?'_ It's not like he has a choice, is it? Shoulders rolling, Touya crosses the room in six long strides, Eri joining his gait on the fifth.

"Seventh floor… What floor are we on right now?"

"Second floor. I'm sure we can figure out an elevator between us." Eri smiles, tucking a lock of light hair behind the small horn on her forehead. There's still ash and dirt all over her face, clumped in her eyelashes. If anything, at least he'll have access to a good shower here. Maybe even a bath. That would be nice.

.

Rising from the warm water, vanilla candles decorating the edges of the porcelain, Touya exhales softly. A bath, it has been far too long since he'd had a half decent one. However, it has brought up one slight issue. Standing before the floor to wall length mirror, Touya flicks his eyes across the expanse of his body, taking note of the small red pinpricks that decorate his collarbones and the meat of his shoulders. The same pattern encircles his wrists and ankles, twisting around his midthighs and biceps. The pile of surgical staples resides on the sink-top; the only ones he hadn't been able to get out were the six on his back, closest to his spine. It'd been the hospital that'd put in the first set there, a desperate attempt to keep his skin together until they could figure out an alternative. Touya hadn't given them a chance, had fled the first instance he was left alone. The one time they'd needed replacing, he'd gone with the wounded teen, picked out a soft-hearted doctor on his way home and begged for help. Claimed he was escaping an abusive family. He hadn't been lying, not completely. Regardless, the problem of the remaining staples persists.

Scooping up the bag that'd been thrown his way by the receptionist, Touya rummages through the contents, snickering to himself as he does so. It's full of clothes, thankfully, but they're also all branded clothes. All Might branded clothes. Probably taken from the public gift-shop on the first floor. It only takes him a moment to select the least offensive pair of pants, pyjama bottoms in the same design as All Might's silver age costume. They're warm and comfortable and it's not Endeavor merchandise, so Touya's happy enough.

Stalking out of the bathroom into the communal space, he makes his way towards Eri, eyes rolling at the sight of her. Gone is the hero outfit, replaced by a truly huge tee-shirt, the collar slipping off one thin shoulder and exposing a shallow scar at the outer tip of her collarbone. It's without question one of All Might's more… eccentric pieces of merchandise; there's well over forty psychedelic prints of his face on the material, each one grinning as manically as the other. Her legs stretch out from under the shirt, crossed at the ankle and resting on the coffee table, one of the many sheets from Yagi resting in her lap. 'Rewind' is written on the page, followed by a long list of notes; information about her quirk, from the looks of it.

"Oi, short-stack." Eri jolts, twisting to glare at him. Her hair, lying limp and wet against the crown of her head, trails down her body in a mockery of silver rat tails.

"To-Dabi."

"Touya's fine when there's no one else." He knows Eri won't rat him out to Endeavor, if only because she doesn't recognise him as Todoroki Touya. No, to her, someone who's displaced in time by more than a decade, she probably has no idea what became of Endeavor's eldest child. "You owe me a favour and there are staples in my back." The unspoken 'can you get them out' hangs in the air between them.

"With my nails?"

He responds to Eri's hesitant question with a dry mutter that "it'll be a novelty to feel some pain from the skin there." From the sudden crumpling of her expression, Eri knows full well about experiences beyond how badly they've been damaged. She silently pats at the sofa arm, shuffling around until she's kneeling on the cushions, hands at the ready as Touya gingerly offers her his back. Her fingertips are cold against his skin, the pads dry and smooth. Her nails hook under the first staple and shimmy it free; the sudden sting bringing Touya to gritting his teeth. One by one, she removes the remaining metal, flicking them onto the coffee table. One lands right by his own stack of papers. There's a registration sheet at the top; it'll be the first thing he needs to fill in.

"All done," Eri muses, fingers tracing a half-inch above the latest wounds on his body. "Want me to grab some antiseptic?"

"Yeah, would be a help." Eri hums, rising from the cushions and Touya takes the opportunity to fall back into the warmth of the material, legs still thrown over the arm of the sofa. His… fellow sidekick scoffs, rooting through the first-aid box as Touya reaches for his own stack of papers. A registration sheet, quirk-based questionnaire, one underneath those for costume design. Slipping that one free of the stack, Touya examines the simple human outline, eyes tracing over the shoulders and neck.

 _"What's your hero costume gonna be like, Touya-nii?"_

 _"It'll have to be well insulated, I'm not at risk of overheating but I'll burn easy if it's not."_

 _"You should have a cape too! Like… like All Might," the last is whispered, that name the greatest curse that could be spoken in their household. Touya… Touya grins. Yeah, a cape. Endeavor doesn't wear one which is ample enough reason why he should._

He's long since grown out of the idea of capes. Too easy to grab, too easy to get captured by. To wear a cape is a challenge, a declaration that the hero cannot be beaten in hand to hand combat. Which Touya is weak with. So, no capes for him.

A long coat, however? That's a different matter. Snatching up the pen that Eri'd been using, Touya swings around until he's sitting properly on the couch, sketching out an estimation of the coat he'd always wanted. He'd seen one a few months ago, residing in the window of an upmarket shop. He'd just been walking by but he'd taken note of it. Make it from flame-proof material, something sturdy that can accept the rolls he's usually forced into… maybe shockproof, if that's possible. It's been years (a decade) since he could last play with the idea of hero-costumes.

"Fuck! A little warning, short-stack!" Eri laughs, the antiseptic wipe swiping across the multitude of wounds that branch across his back and Touya tenses against it. It's far from the worst pain he's every felt, but it does sting. Persistent.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in all this," Eri whispers, scrunching up the wipe and launching it across the room, where it lands neatly in the bin, "but it's better than getting pulled into crime or something, right?"

"…tch, I guess. At least it's All Might." If there was ever a hero that he could work under, it'd be the one Endeavor hates the most. Hell, this might even be interesting.


	5. Chapter 5

Wide eyed, Midoriya Izuku stares at the phone in his hand. His lunch remains on the cafeteria table, half-eaten and abandoned in favour of his latest notebook. Already 'Rewind' is scribbled at the top of the page, followed by a quick sketch of the sidekick. Of All Might's sidekick.

Three months have passed since their first appearance; they'd been caught on camera apprehending some guy who could assemble and reassemble things. To begin with, the media had been under the impression that the duo were vigilantes. However, All Might himself had filed the paperwork at the government office but three hours after the arrest on villain. The paperwork on his new sidekicks. Izuku still can't get over it. Sure, All Might has had sidekicks before, but they'd been support types. Rewind and Dabi, however, are not. Well, Rewind could be, but she chooses not to be. A quirk that can rewind people and objects… and he'd thought Kacchan's quirk was powerful! It's no wonder All Might had snapped her up as a sidekick, even if she hasn't actually been on a hero course in High School. Though, she might have been. Like all of All Might's sidekicks, her identity is shrouded in mystery. The only thing the community at large knows is that her name is Eri. Which is more than they know about her partner.

Dabi is older, perhaps by two or three years, has a quirk known only as 'cremation', and he's a grump. That's it, that's all the solid information Izuku has and he's been looking. Sure, he has notes on his fighting style, has theories and thoughts, but nothing official. Not like the interview Eri had done for All Might weekly, professing her love for cats, bright colours (strange, given her predominantly black costume) and apples. After that interview, a limited-edition Rewind shirt had been released, a bold thing with a cat and apple repeating pattern. It was through sheer chance his mother had been able to get a hold of one for him and while Izuku will never dare wearing it himself, it hangs from one of his walls just like a poster would. He can't wait until their action figures come out.

"I'm gonna be the number one hero! Not these fuckers!" Kacchan is in full throttle, his phone clenched in one hand and his foot stomping down on his now empty chair. He's probably got the same article open that Izuku has. Both of them have alerts for hero news activated, it's the best way to keep up with everything that happens. The most recent thing being a full Team All Might outing to take down villains. Ever since he took on these two new sidekicks, All Might appearances have shot through the roof. It's like the man has a renewed determination; there'd be one day where he'd performed hero duties for sixteen hours straight, only stopping to shove twenty-three hotdogs down his throat halfway between lunch and tea. Even his sidekicks had called it a day after the thirteenth hour, returning only to drag All Might back to his offices at the sixteenth hour. That All Might had gone willingly, even if he'd taken the time to save a cat from a tree on the way back, shows the relationship they have. Izuku is all kinds of jealous.

"Bakugo's all fired up, isn't he?"

"I'm not surprised, what with his goal and all, but now that the media is pegging Rewind or Dabi as All Might's successor." That, that was a bit of a leap. Still, Izuku can understand the hype. All Might taking on sidekicks that have powerful quirks after reducing the amount of his hero time (even if it has shot right back up now), well, it's no wonder that everyone is jumping to those conclusions. Only, Izuku thinks All Might would be pushing the two further into the limelight if that was going to be the case. Maybe he's trying to decide between the two of them, though it doesn't really seem like an All Might thing to do.

"-but then he might be trying to focus on expanding their potential as heroes first…"

"Urgh, Deku's at it again." Blushing, Izuku snaps his mouth and notebook shut, focusing back on his phone. Despite three months in the business, Dabi and Rewind have yet to pose for a photoshoot. People are still getting good shots of the duo with mobile phones though. Even if their hero costumes are mainly black, he still thinks they're cool.

He wonders what Rewind or Dabi would say about a quirkless hero.

.

* * *

.

"I can't believe you're wearing that monstrosity." Smoothing down the apple and cat print shirt with one hand, Eri grins over at Touya as she works on flipping the latest pancake in the pan. All Might had left them to it after devouring his own stack, leaving clear instructions that they were to meet him at the train station by eleven o'clock to begin their patrol. She's been here in the past for three months now, been All Might's sidekick for three months and… and she's almost comfortable with it. Almost.

(There's no Dad and no Deku or Lemillion and that hurts, hurts more than she can even begin to describe but she has to grit her teeth and trudge on because there's no other option for it)

"Yeah, well, at least I can stomach bright colours. I don't think I've seen you in anything other than monotone."

Touya flicks her a hard glare, lips pulling down in a frown.

"Untrue. I can manage a dark blue once every full moon."

She snorts, flipping the pancake one last time before sliding it onto a plate. It's the last one of the batch and she pushes it Touya's way, not yet finished her previous one. He slathers it in lemon juice (the heathen) before folding it over (even worse; everyone knows you're supposed to roll a pancake).

As Touya eats, Eri takes her seat at the breakfast bar, one hand toying with the leather bracelet upon her right wrist. It'd been dropped off at All Might agency a month ago, the first gift she's ever received from a fan before. A little boy whose life she'd saved during their first month of patrolling with the Number One. Speaking of-

Eri turns her attention to the muted TV, watching All Might rush onto the scene to help in a mugging. She could do nothing other than heal the greatest hero in the world, for better or worse. It's going to screw the timeline six says to Sunday, but given that she'd already managed to write her younger self out of existence, that's a ship that'd long since sailed. Nothing she could do about it now. And speaking of screwing the timeline six ways to Sunday-

Eri flicks a glance towards Touya, watching him chew on his breakfast as if he's not utterly ruined a perfectly good pancake with all that lemonyness. The tiny little pucker marks where the surgical staples had rested in his face remain there; he'd refused her offer to heal them up, stating he didn't mind the scares. Which, given how he'd look before, she's not surprised. If he can come to terms with the mass amount of scar tissue he'd had before… No, she's not gonna focus on that concept too much. Instead, Eri turns her thoughts away from what still scratches and claws as only a history of abuse can and, instead, focuses on the present. Touya (Dabi. Dabi which is his hero-name and isn't that a turn of events?) is still with them. It's been a couple of months and he's still here. He's working with her, working as a sidekick to All Might himself and if that isn't a complete 180, then she doesn't know what else could constitute as one.

"Oi, Short-stack, what's with the look on your face?"

Eri faults slightly at being called out, one hand rising to tap at the edge of her horn again. It's no longer a stump but nor is it wildly out of control either. Right now, she's fine and dandy, as she always is with regular exercise of both her body and quirk. It's only because of Dad that she's this in control, only thanks to his work with her quirk, thanks to Deku's fearlessness and Lemillion's constant encouragements.

"So, it's Short-stack is it, now? Have I been upgraded?" Smiling, Eri leans into Touya's space, white waves of air tumbling over one shoulder to hang before her. Her fellow sidekick huffs, pressing his dry, warm palm to her cheek and pushing her back. His thumb catches at the edge of her lips, forcibly pulling a frown at one corner of her mouth. She probably looks weird but Eri's in too good a mood to care right now.

"Tch. You've been making pancakes all more, stacking them up would probably make a tower as tall as you."

"I am nowhere near that short," Eri insists, one elbow on the table dropping into the bar stool beside Touya as he shoves the last of his dreadful pancake between his teeth.

"Was All Might's injury common knowledge in the future?"

"I- Why ask a question like that?" She's a little blind-sided at the sudden change in conversation, both because it's far off the current topic of insulting her height, and because she hadn't been away All Might had even told Touya he was hurt.

"It's not that big a secret to guess given the hints you've dropped and what I've seen you do. His hero time had been dropping and then, after you show up with the ability to magically heal others, his work hours sky-rocket? Please, don't insult me. The fact he flinches whenever we get too near his left side during training was the final giveaway."

On the TV, the reporter only supports Touya's point, mentioning the long hours All Might has been pulling in the last few months, how it's a three-hundred percent increase on his hero work previously.

Yeah, she might have royally fucked up, but that's one thing she's done one-hundred percent right, healing All Might.

"It was revealed before the whole world in a villain battle about three years from now," Eri confirms, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, slouching into her chair as one hand goes to the hem of her shirt. "He defeated the other, went out on a high, but the true extent of his injury was revealed. It was… it was chaotic after that, what with the League of Villains coming out of the woodwork."

Touya snorts, dropping his unused fork down onto the china plate, scratching at the side of his face where red fuzz lays. He forgets about it a lot, the shaving thing that is. Probably a result of all that dead skin; the hair follicles had probably been utterly destroyed until she'd worked her magic. Whenever he notices the facial fuzz, Touya's quick to find a razor, almost obsessive as soon as he realises he's got a five o'clock shadow going on. Clean face is clearly a preference for him.

"League of Villains. What a ridiculous name."

Strangling a laugh into a cough beneath her breath, Eri gathers her hair up and binds it into a ponytail, ensuring the bobble holds it tight.

"I agree. Come on, we've only got a half hour to make it to the train station for patrol."

She's relatively certain Touya mutters a "fucking patrol," under his breath, but he gets up regardless.

.

Hero costume fully on, Eri bounces out of the car one of All Might's workers dropped them off in, Touya following after her and looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else, the grump. How he's ended up so popular with that apathetic look on his face, Eri's not sure. Probably because he's the pretty one out of them; what with that jawline and intense blue eyes. All Might's the strong, reassuring one, so that leaves her to counteract Dabi's spiritlessness with a Rewind that's relatively sunny. If she's challenging Deku and Lemillion a bit… well, no one will know. It's her way of holding onto them, no one can judge her for it because no one knows.

A hand clamps down on her wrist, reeling her back.

"Slow down, Short-stack. He's not even here yet."

Huffing, Eri turns to eye Touya in his 'Dabi' get up, inspecting the long coat. Dabi'd been before her time, after all. She'd been busy, focused on her studying and internships and her upcoming official licence.

"Would it kill you to look like you're invested in your job?"

"I only took this up to stay out of jail," Touya grunts, his voice pitched low enough that no one else would hear his words. He's released her wrist now, stuffing his hand into the pocket of his pants. Neither of them have particularly colourful outfits, what with their primary colour being black. Though All Might had tried steering them towards something brighter… well, it turns out they were about level when it came to sheer stubbornness.

"And look at how many other people we're putting in there," Eri chimes back, threading her arm through his, pulling the slowpoke along towards the front of the train station. A few people are starting to look their way, beginning to whisper. It's obvious she's a hero, given the cape she wears. Touya's 'Dabi' outfit can almost pass as civilian wear, if it weren't for the hardware material it's made from. Once one person clicks on, others do too; she spots a handful of kids rummaging through their backpacks, undoubtedly reaching for a notepad or book or something for them to sign. Eri loves giving out signatures, loves leaving messages of support and inspiring the next generation.

Touya's a little less crowd friendly than she is though.

"HAHAHA! I AM HERE!" As per usual, All Might drops from the sky, landing in a small cap in the crowd, hands on hips and looking as heroic as ever. Touya doesn't mutter 'show-off' but, given by how hard he rolls his eyes, it's damningly close. It doesn't stop her fellow sidekick from smiling though.

"We're ready for patrol, All Might!" Snapping off a quick salute, Eri bumps her hip into Touya, prompting him to nod.

"Yeah, ready as I'll ever be."

.

* * *

.

How has this become his life?

Three months ago, he'd been getting by. Sure, he'd taken a few shady jobs, but nothing explicitly against the law. He'd been teetering closer and closer to that ledge to villainy as Endeavour continued with his ways and no one stopped him.

Then Eri'd come crashing into his life and proceeded to fuck up a timeline of events, heal the Number One Hero from a life-threatening wound (and hadn't that been a surprise to see; not that he's surprised All Might can keep ahead of Endeavour even when gravely injured, it just proved how big the gap was), and… secure him a job as sidekick to said hero.

(He's got enough income now to put in a standing order for autumn bellflower's now, not just a single one a month, but a small bouquet tied with a single white ribbon, all sent to the same address).

"Dabi, down!"

Touya ducks as Eri (Rewind, she's Rewind when they're on duty) goes sailing over his head. The mass of glass that'd been sailing towards them crumbles into sand particles, filtering away harmlessly to lay out on the floor as Eri rewinds the projectile, the tape around her wrist undone and at the ready to capture the villain before them.

All Might is fighting three at once, leaving two for them and Touya'll be damned if they don't take down their share of the villains before All Might finishes up. He might have been a 'failure', but he's not incompetent.

He sends out a rocket of blue flames and they race for the villain, melting through the walls of glass she puts up in an attempt to block him. As Eri advances on the one the glass yielder had been protecting, Touya makes a move for his own target. He doesn't carry a mass amount of capture tape like Eri does; he'd been trained from a young age to incapacitate, to win in a fight quickly and efficiently. He might have been deemed a failure by that bastard, but he sure as hell knows how to use that training in a fight. A spear of glass becomes a glowing red puddle on the floor and Touya's hands blister from the heat but he pushes through it. It's not something he hasn't experienced before, after all, and it'll be far from the last time he'll get the joys of third-degree burns given his new occupation. Eri'll probably insist on healing him up the second she actually notices the damage he's doing and… and he's okay with that.

(Maybe he'll be able to drum up the courage to go see her now that he doesn't look like a wildfire victim, now that he's almost stable)

A quick palm thrust to the face and the woman goes down, utterly dazed and it only takes another punch to put her out. Perhaps the not most heroic way of capturing a villain, but it works. Efficiency above all as far as Touya is concerned.

There's a thud as All Might lands an attack on the other end of the street, the clouds rearranging themselves overhead after the blow he'd dealt out. That's 'round about the time Eri wraps her own fight up, sitting atop her downed opponent with the loser's wrists tied up behind his back.

The crowd, a respectable distance back to avoid injury but close enough watch, cheer at the sudden finale, chattering and clapping and snapping photos.

The one time he'd followed Endeavour, he'd never seen such a positive reaction from the public. Hell, this is downright pleasant.

It's 'round about this time that Touya realises he has a new goal, something to aspire to in his role as All Might's latest sidekick.

He's going to become a better hero than his fucker of an old man.

Oh, he might not get the same amount of solved cases under his belt, he might not reach the Number Two ranking. But if he can get a higher public approval rating… Yeah. That, that sounds good. He'll get the approval rating, get the people to love him and then… then he'll expose the bastard. He'll show them the difference between true heroes and false heroes. Because if he's trapped working as a sidekick, he's going to damn well use it, work towards his goal of vengeance.

"Oh," Eri's soft whisper breaks through his thoughts, forcibly reeling Touya back to the present. He follows her line of sight, beyond where All Might is speaking to the photographers and reports, focusing in on one particular head in the crowd. It's difficult to tell which one she's looking at, the one with the pig's head or the one with red skin.

"Oi, you looking at scarlet or oinks?"

"The boy with the green hair." The plain looking one? He's got a wild mess of green hair, freckles on the bridge of his nose, and he's frantically scribbling in a notebook. He doesn't look special nor particularly interesting. No obvious quirk as far as he can see (the kid's probably about Shouto's age, come to think of it).

"He's one of the boys that rescued me. He took down Overhaul."

Disbelieving, Touya hisses, "him?" as he looks the kid over again. Nope, still scrawny and plain looking. Doesn't look like much. But this pint-sized kid took down Overhaul? The fucker they'd had such a problem with before All Might literally dropped from the sky to save the day? Well, looks aren't everything, he supposes.

"He's a kid," Eri whispers, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth, indecision written across the entirety of her face.

That's what does it for Touya. He didn't get saved, he didn't get to climb out of the pit (Eri'd dragged him out of that one here but, in her timeline? Who knew what'd happened to him) but Eri… she got her hero's cape, she's the one who got her ass saved by genuine heroes. One of which is currently standing before them and looking like a breeze would knock him over. She doesn't have the same connection with this brat anymore. Doesn't mean she can't start a new one.

Fuck it. Touya hasn't signed one autograph yet but it seems that's about to change.

"Come on then, let's go introduce you."

* * *

 **I live! And so does this fic. I'm sorry for the long wait and I can't promise another update for a while, but I'll try?**

 **Tsume**  
 **xxx**


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